[The chronic constrictive pericarditis, a real calcified gangue realizing a mid-ventricular bottleneck: A case report]

A 30-year-old woman consulted for a predominantly right-sided global heart failure chart that had been evolving for about 3 months. Its antecedents include a concept of poorly treated pleuropulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 8 years. Lateral chest X-ray, transthoracic echocardiography and thoracic CT showed ventricular ring calcification with mid-ventricular compression with apical ballooning. The diagnosis of chronic mid-ventricular constrictive pericarditis of tuberculosis etiology was retained. The patient was put on diuretic treatment and the immediate evolution is favorable with a regression of the signs of congestion. Surgical decortication has been indicated.

[Thrombolysis in pulmonary embolism with high mortality risk: Experience of a cardiology department in sub-Saharan Africa]

INTRODUCTION

High-risk pulmonary embolism (PE) accounts for 5% of total acute PE and is a life-threatening emergency requiring immediate therapeutic management by fibrinolysis. The objective of this work is to describe the experience of thrombolysis in high-risk PE in a cardiology department in Togo.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This is an analytical and descriptive study carried out in the cardiology department of the Campus teaching hospital of Lomé over a period of 5 years (August 2012 to July 2017) concerning patients hospitalized for high-risk mortality PE and having undergone streptokinase thrombolysis.

RESULTS

Twenty-eight of the 102 PE were at high risk of mortality (27.5%). They were 9 men and 19 women with an average age of 61.9±14.1 years. The mean systolic blood pressure was 65mmHg and 50% of the patients were placed on dobutamine. Thrombolysis was performed in 22 of the 28 patients (78.6%). Eighteen patients had a short protocol and 4 a long protocol. The mortality rate was 32.1% or 13.6% in the thrombolysis PE versus 100% in the non-thrombolysis PE (P=0.01). Causes of death in thrombolysis were persistent shock (2 cases) at the end of thrombolysis and sudden death occurred 1 month after hospitalization. The average hospital stay was 18.8 days.

CONCLUSION

The high-risk PE remains today a pathology burdened with heavy mortality. Thrombolysis remains the first treatment to reduce this mortality.